Thursday, 21 November 2013

The Brandon Wheat Kings acquired from goaltending depth on Thursday, acquiring 18-year old Christopher Tai from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for a conditional eighth round pick in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft.

Tai was one of three goaltenders on the Hurricanes' roster, along with former Wheat King Corbin Boes and ex Regina Pat Teagan Sacher.

With Curtis Honey still sidelined with an upper body injury, the 5-foot-9, 175 pound Tai gives Brandon a backup for rookie Jordan Papirny.

Papirny has started nine straight games for the Wheat Kings, with several different netminders serving as emergency backups over the last three weeks.

Tai has played in 20 career games in the WHL and has a 5-6-0 record with a 4.44 goals against average and .871 save percentage.

He's joined the Wheat Kings in Cranbrook and will likely be in the lineup for Friday's game against the Kootenay Ice.

1 comment:

Chris Tai, at the tender age of 18, has more class, loyalty, and has more professionalism, than the Lethbridge Hurricanes will likely ever learn.

Chris Tai's sweet tweet: I'd like to thank the Hurricanes organization for having me over the last year and I'm looking forward to a fresh start in Brandon.

What Chris was probably THINKING at the time of his sweet tweet...

I'd like to thank the Hurricanes organization for having me bend over for them the last year and I'm looking forward to a game start or two in Brandon without getting pulled when scored on when my team is still waking up from their pre-game nap in the first five minutes of the game.

What Chris Tai was far too classy for, but would have been entitled to tweet...

Thanks Hurricanes- You fed me despite treating me like a stray dog. You even put a roof over my head and took me for a walk once a month.

Thank you so much for allowing me to travel on all those excellent cross country bus rides with those super comfortable seats and constantly evolving aromas, but for not wasting my energy and irreplaceable WHL time by interupting my bench sitting with too much exhausting net time.

I experienced so much inner peace while enjoying the tranquility and comfort that the luxurious benches provide.

It was so much less stressful than game time and it was so much better for the team and easier for the fans to remember one goalie name that was letting in all those WHL weekly highlight reel goals while the team's lousy play and ineffective coaching resulted in so few being scored by us.

To my new owners in Brandon- Sorry that my GAA and save percentage are so poor, but by trading for me, you must realize that I have a lot of energy left over as I have only been given the opportunity to start about 12 games in nearly a season and a half.

I think that I learned a lot from Ty Rimmer last year, but I haven't had a chance to actually try any of these new skills in a game yet.

My confidence is pretty low as I have been on a very short leash. When the coaches did make me stand on the ice for the singing of our national anthem those few times, when I didn't win the game for them about half the time, they pulled me out after giving up a couple of goals to league snipers who somehow got by our young and inexperienced defenders and the hard hitting forward, Axel Blomqvist, who still doesn't understand "the system."

Thanks so much Mr McCrimmon, for convincing the Canes to reluctantly give me up with your generous compensation of a conditional 8th round bantam pick in exchange for the next two years of my life. That makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside that you want me on your team so bad.

Not to worry, coach, if you can find room on your bench for me for a while, you will be able to trade me back to them when I turn 20 and even with a .897 save%, sucker them out of their first round bantam pick and get a player like Kale Clague just like they gave you this year.

Keep Robson on SPEED-DIAL #1

Five minutes to the Hurricanes for Impersonating a WHL Franchise, and a Game Misconduct for Goaltender Interference. (Pending additional league discipline)

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About Me

I have been the voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Sports Director at CKLQ Radio in Brandon since 1993.
The purpose of my blog is to provide you with up-to-date Wheat Kings' news and items.
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